Bystander
by Charcoal love
Summary: High School, hell on Earth, four years of constant judgement. Warren wasn't excited when the bus began to fly, he wasn't excited when they found out that Sky High was literally sky high, he wasn't excited when Boomer, his mom's ex boyfriend, turned out to be the gym teacher and he was definitely not excited at the thought of having to go up onto that stage and perform for him.
1. Chapter 1

High School, hell on Earth, four years of constant judgement. Warren was not looking forward to it. He wasn't excited when the bus began to fly, he wasn't excited when they found out that Sky High was literally sky high, he wasn't excited when Boomer, his mom's ex boyfriend, turned out to be the gym teacher and he was definitely not excited at the thought of having to go up onto that stage and perform for him.

In a few minutes Boomer was going to call out his name and everyone would begin whispering furiously about how he was Baron Battle's son, sure to be a Supervillain. They'd start wondering why he was even here because Sky High was a school for aspiring heroes not for people like him and the pretty blonde who'd smiled at him when going down the bus would look at him with horror.

No, Warren wasn't excited.

Behind him there was some sort of scuffle and Warren was jostled just a bit.

"Sorry love, you alright?" A concerned girl's voice said, tinged with an accent of some sort. She wasn't talking to him though and so he ignored it, or at least tried to. On the stage, a girl's Invulnerability was being put through the test through fire, car and more.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Are you certain?" This time the accent was stronger, more pronounced.

"Yeah sure, hey are you British?"

"Blimey, how'd you know?!"

"You have a slight accent."

"Well to me you're the one with the accent mate." Now the accent had slipped from British to Australian but the boy she was talking to didn't notice and instead he just laughed.

"Yeah I guess. So are you new to Maxville?"

"Just transferred to Sky High from Hogwarts, apparently the grade system's different there."

"Oh my God, Hogwarts?! You mean it's real?!" Wait, what? This kid really believed her? What kind of idiots was he going to school with?

"Nah just messing with you dude." The accent had gone from British to Australian to good ole American. "Can't believe you fell for it Brian, I was in your class all of first grade!"

"You," Brian spluttered outraged. "Why would you do that?!"

"I was bored. Plus I want to be a stand up comedian so I'm practising my accents, next on my list is Scottish, I'm really looking forward to doing some research into the slang. Maybe even do a Doric one."

"But why would you just mess with me like that, mentioning Hogwarts?! That wasn't funny."

"If you'd seen all the faces that you managed to make in the last five minutes you'd find it funny too." She giggled. Warren suddenly wished he was standing behind them and had actually seen those faces she mentioned. It seemed a lot more interesting than power placement, that was for sure.

"Well it's not funny for me." Brian was outraged. Warren wondered if he was pouting in reality, the picture of him that he had in mind certainly was.

"Oh come on, I'm just messing with you because I like you. I've decided, Brian, that you and I, we're going to be best friends. Like Buffy and Willow, Harry and Ron, Shrek and Donkey."

"...Which one of us is Donkey?"

"Did you not hear the part where I said I wanted to be a stand up comedian?"

"So you'll be Donkey and I'll be Shrek?"

"Obviously!"

"...Okay then."

Was that it? Was this really how people became friends? Warren was jealous of Brian, that all it took for him to make a friend was for someone to bump into him and tease the boy. Warren certainly didn't make friends that easily, he didn't make friends at all. The only person even remotely close to being his friend was Mrs Zhao at the Paper Lantern.

"Brian this is the start of a b-e-a-utiful friendship."

"Great, mind telling me your name now?"

"My name is..." Warren wondered if Brian was anticipating this as much as he was. "Oh crap, I forgot."

"You forgot?!" Brian shrieked and Warren was glad he did because otherwise he would have to do it and that would be awkward. "How do you forget you own name?!"

"Well it's not like I talk to myself. Well I do but I don't address myself by name. Wait, I remember now, I'm Cecelia Meriadoc Woods, but you can call me Cece."

Cece. That was a nice name.

"You!" Coach Boomer yelled, his finger pointed at a point behind Warren and he finally got the excuse to look at the pair. He swivelled his head just in time to see a girl with black hair in pigtails, grey eyes and ridiculous denim overalls throw her hands in the air accidentally knocking the tall boy next to her in the shoulder.

"Me!" She proclaimed with the nicest smile Warren had ever seen, undaunted by Boomer's annoyance.

"Yes, you. Noisy Girl, come up here now."

She all but skipped up to the platform, grinning the whole way. When Boomer looked at her expectantly she raised a hand, the palm held up and screwed up her face in concentration, her tongue poking out of her mouth at the edge of her lips. Finally after a few seconds of nothing, a dribble of water began flowing from her fingers and then stopped just as quickly, coming and going in spurts. It went down to a few drops dripping like five leaky taps before stopping completely and she threw her hands up in the air again, a few drops of water that were clinging to her hand splattering onto Boomer's face and the class laughed as he flinched.

"Tada!" She smiled victoriously and Boomer took a deep breath and they all braced for the yell that was sure to happen.

"SIDEKICK!" He yelled and she flew off the stage onto her butt and shook a victorious fist

"Yes!" She walked back to them and held a hand out to the tall boy she'd knocked into before. "Brian, we're going to be in the same class!"

"Great." Brian scowled but Warren could tell he was happy about it.

"Emo Kid." Boomer pointed at him and then it was Warren's turn. He went up to the platform, showed off his flames and got the exact reaction he expected. Boomer called him 'Hero' making sure to say that as sarcastically as possible, everyone began whispering and everything in general sucked.

It was high school after all.

And that first day was a pretty good example of how the rest of his year went. The pretty blonde turned out to Alice Frost and she was his partner for all of Mad Science. Every day they would sit together in that one class, talk, do experiments and the second any of her friends looked their way she clammed right up. It was the same in the other classes only the others didn't even talk to him, they just cowered and looked at him nervously.

And every day during Lunch period he would sit at that one table that no one else came close to and watched as four tables away, Brian and Cece laughed and joked and played their way through freshman year, wondering what it would be like to be a part of that.

Same old, same old and it didn't look like it was going to change anytime soon.

Warren really hated high school.


	2. Chapter 2

Warren loved his mother, he really did, she just drove him crazy sometimes. She looked at him like she didn't understand because she really didn't. To her it would never make sense that Warren wasn't popular, wasn't friends with all the cool kids. She had been Queen Bee in high school and even Dad turning out to be a supervillain hadn't made any difference to her reputation, not when she and Dad had never even been serious. They'd never skirted around the fact that Warren was an accident, a happy accident (eventually) but an accident nonetheless and that while they loved him they wanted nothing to do with each other.

So his Mom didn't understand what it was like to have people stare at him for all the wrong reasons when he walked down the hallways, she never understood that the reason he didn't hang out with his friends during Winter break was because he didn't have any friends and so she didn't understand that he really needed to get a job, not just for the money but because he needed something to take his mind off his shit social life.

The Paper Lantern is a small place in the mall, on the ground floor. They don't have a lot of staff and Warren works as busboy, dishwasher and delivery boy, whatever he's needed to do but the pay is good and Mrs Zhang pinches his cheek, proclaims him too skinny and force feeds him egg rolls and he feels the ball of fire and rage that burns in his chest settle down a bit under the restaurant's soft lighting and red walls.

It feels more like home than the neon bright lights of their townhouse and the small talk ever does.

* * *

Another week and just as winter break is about to end, a fight between the Dark Hand and the Elite League leaves Maxville suffering from a snowstorm courtesy of Lady Typhoon and their vacation is extended by another week as she recovers.

What does it say about him that even though he _hates_ school it's still preferable to sitting home alone?

It's doesn't take long before he sees someone from Sky High at the Paper Lantern. It's a bit surprising how long it takes really before he realises that most of the students are probably out on vacation. It doesn't mean that there haven't been any other teenagers there, on the contrary more than a few people from the normal public school have been in and out, some even hitting on him best as they could but there is something to be said about Sky High students. The mix of fear and shock and distaste is...unmistakable, really.

Still, he knew he was lucky it was just some of the seniors, they were quiet and after the first double take didn't really care much about him. It could be worse, the cafe across the street is all but tortured by Lash and Speed. The owner can't even do much with Speed evading the cameras.

Warren absently wonders why behaving like jerks makes them popular while being related to a jerk makes him an outcast but doesn't think on it too much. Whether he understands why or not, he is glad not to be them.

He's just leaving the Paper Lantern after an afternoon shift when he sees something strange though. Lash and Speed sitting quietly at a table along with Gwen Grayson, Junior representative and the predicted Student Body President next year. He wonders why those three were sitting together, at school Gwen makes her dislike for them absolutely obvious but lets it go just as quickly.

The fact is that he may be curious but he doesn't really _care_.

"What are you standing in the doorway for?" Victoria, Mrs Zhang's college daughter visiting for a few days ruffles his hair and he glares down at her. For a pint sized girl she has a lot of personality and is every bit a terrifying as her mother. "Shouldn't you be sulking in a Hot Topic somewhere?" She teases and his glare intensifies.

"I don't sulk. Or go to Hot Topic." He adds for good measure but she's unfazed by his glare and just snorts.

"Nope, going by that pout you're more Abercombie and Fitch." She ruffles his hair again for good measure. "Go be a teenager and hang out with your friends." She calls out over her shoulder and he wilts internally.

Mrs Zhang is the closest thing he has to a friend.

He looks up again to find Gwen looking at him carefully. He doesn't like the look in her eye, too calculating to fit with the persona she projects and just rolls his eyes and leaves. He doesn't want to give Gwen the satisfaction of reacting even though he can see Lash and Speed looking at him and snickering, having heard what Victoria said.

Now he couldn't wait to get back to school. He wouldn't win any STC against those two but he'd make damn sure to scorch them up a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

It takes a few tries but eventually Warren finds the perfect way to situate himself during Save the Citizen. There's a fine line between invisible enough that no one suddenly stops in the middle of conversation to look at him nervously and visible enough that no one accidentally sits on him but he manages. Eventually he finds himself sitting near the senior sidekicks, the only ones who were almost completely neutral to him.

He goes unnoticed most of the times and eventually it becomes one more place where he can read, his gym pants loose enough to keep a book in his pocket.

Save the Citizen isn't really that interesting. The only people who really pay attention to it are the seniors who have to worry about actual battles when they graduate and look at every single battle with a careful eye, hunting for weaknesses. Even the freshmen lose interest once they realise it is rare for them to be called in and battles hardly ever amount to anything because no one ever takes saving the wooden puppet seriously.

So when the junior duo of Carlton with the super healing and Spencer with his Enhanced Endurance choose Alice and Cece it comes as a surprise and he can see his fellow classmates' ears prick up in interest while Cece's classmates…

They start cheering for her. It is the silliest, most embarrassing chant of 'Oh Cece, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Cece!' but she grins and blows exaggerated kisses at them and they pretend to catch them and all around him people snigger and make fun but Warren has a hard time split between worry for the girl and the urge to smile at their strange sense of camaraderie.

They're the villains for this battle Carlton And Spencer choosing to play as heroes and before Warren knows it the timer goes off and the battle has started.

Spencer takes Cece while Carlton takes Alice which doesn't make sense until Alice, who doesn't have quite that much control over her ability to freeze things, turns Carlton's arm black with frostbite only for it to heal within seconds and they battle it out without their powers using only what fighting skills they learnt in school.

It is truly fascinating though to see the blue black crawl up Carlton and then recede and so no one really notices how Cece and Spencer are duking it out until a sharp cry has everyone's attention turning to the side where Spencer's Endurance is being truly put to the test. Cece is relentless and continues to pummel him in ways that Warren knows they aren't taught in school, true blue violence the kind of which they aren't used to seeing because Supers always fight with their powers. Every attempt he makes at getting closer to the puppet is rebuffed by a hit, not to the face like they've been taught but to the gut and Cece doesn't wait for him to recover like the Villains do, no she keeps at it, an elbow to his back while he;s still reeling, her knee catching him in his shoulder and she pushes him to the limit of the periphery, right to the plexiglass walls. Alice is still trying to keep Carlton from reaching the puppet but she isn't quite as brutal as Cece, cringing every time she hurts him and it's assumed that the freshman would lose, the Heroes would win if it weren't for Cece yelling from all the way across the room where she's still holding Spencer back.

"Get the dummy!" She says and Spencer and Carlton redouble their efforts but Alice is still struggling.

"I'm a bit busy at the moment!" She yells back and Warren thinks they must know each other because they seem to be in the middle of a conversation the way strangers aren't.

Cece flings her arm out and her powers are weak because they don't let out more than a trickle but she flings it far enough for the water to land near Alice and the blonde dives to it, freezing it and picking it up only to throw it at the dummy.

"Her aim sucks!" The guy sitting next to Warren scoffs as the icicle flies far above the dummy only to swallow his words when it catches the rope and cuts through it, the dummy falling down onto the shredder with one second on the clock and surprised cheers go up as the Villains, against all odds, win. Alice is swarmed by people, an adoring crowd really, while Cece is still at the end hovering over the boy she just _ruined_. Her own little fans are behind the crowd still belting out their little cheer and she bows and sends them a smile before giving Spencer a helping hand.

He glares at her but she says something, something that has him looking at her with surprise and curiosity and it isn't long before he's smiling right back at her because of course he does, of course Cece manages to beat the shit out of someone and then make friends with them. He shakes his head and pulls her into a half hug that makes Warren see _red_ , makes heat bloom inside of him and he closes his eyes to control the fire from escaping him. When he opens them again she is back with her friends, back where she belongs but the little glances she shares with Spencer filled with interest and something more makes his head hurt and his chest tighten with an emotion he refuses to name and Warren walks out thinking nothing could possibly make this day worse.

Only he's wrong.

"Man, can't believe we're graduating this year. Dad says the Stronghold kid is joining next year, can you imagine the battles that kid's going to get int-Shit!"

The senior who was talking yelps and rushes away as flames lick up and down Warren's arm, hot like they've never been before fueled by his hate.

No, Warren did not like high school at all.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wipe down table twelve, would you?" Victoria says, passing him by with a ton of plates in her hand and Warren sighs but goes anyway. It's an hour away from closing time but a crowd suddenly hit them fifteen minutes ago and were showing no intention of leaving quite yet. He expects someone must have spilt something they had a few small children among them and readies the washcloth on his shoulder as he gets closer, only to make a point turn when he sees who's there.

"Warren!" Cece calls out and he grudgingly makes his way over. "So it is you."

"Cece." He nods in acknowledgement shifting from one foot to the other.

"Ah, so you were running away from me deliberately. Good to know."

"I wasn't running away." He doesn't even notice that he's cleaned the table and sat down in the seat opposite hers until they're eye to eye and before he can stand to leave Mrs Zhang waves a hand telling him to sit.

"You were. You're always running away."

"Am I?" She grins at him and he realises he's actually being playful.

It's an odd thing. He never knew he was even capable of it.

"Yes, always running away from people. I mean it's not really that obvious, mostly because you're built like-"She waves a hand gesturing him up and down. "But you keep running _away_." She sings, leaning her face on her hand and he picks at his shirt.

"I don't run away."

"Yes, you do, you expect people to be idiots but they'll never get to prove you wrong if you keep on running away from them." Cece chides and he clears his throat loudly and obviously.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" She knows what he's talking about of course, the STC incident is still discussed all the time even though it's been weeks since it happened. There's in the middle of exams now, the end of the school year almost there.

"Smooth change of subject Warren, I could just skid into it."

She says his name and he finds himself liking it. At school he's Mr Peace, the only ones to ever talk to him the teachers or lab partners and even then, no one says much. His mother never uses his name if she can avoid it, always calling him sweetie, or darling or some other pet name which would be nice if only she meant it. Warren knew though that she hated his name, Dad had picked it out and it was a bit too close to Barron for her liking.

It was nice, someone saying his name like it was just any other name. No fear or anger or hate, just...Warren.

"Don't know what you're talking about." He deflects with ease and she raises her eyebrows and smiles like he's done something very funny. "And you didn't answer me."

She rolls her eyes but answers him anyway. "I learnt to fight from my Dad. And my brother." She looked away in thought. "And my godparents and everyone at Dad's work."

Superheroes then. Great. Still she was nicer than most of the second generation kids he knew.

"Hi, sorry for the wait, what can I get you?" Victoria says brightly before realising Warren's there and they proceed to have a silent conversation, interrupted by Cece.

"Actually I'm waiting for a take away order."

"95th precinct?"

"Yep."

"It'll still be a few minutes."

"No problem, tell me if you need the table."

"Thanks!" Victoria takes the long way back to the kitchen, around the reception and gives Warren two big thumbs up from behind Cece's back.

"So, 95th precinct?"

"They're working late today and I was heading over so Dad told me to pick the order up on my way."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, he's the captain of the precinct."

"Not a superhero?"

"The Commander goes out there and fights a supervillain or a meteor once every two weeks and he does that while he's invincible and super strong, he smashes things leaves a mess for others to clean up and then goes home to play at being a normal real estate agent. My Dad fights criminals every single day and he does that in a bulletproof vest that doesn't fit him right because of course, budget cuts, and anytime he discharges his weapon, he fills out paperwork for it, is held accountable for every bit of damage he does. Anything happens to the Commander and the whole world would weep, my Dad would be little more than a footnote in a newspaper but he still does it. Kind of makes him a superhero in my mind."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know." She says softly and leans in. "Wanna know a secret?"

He shrugs in answer.

"They don't actually have work. They're staying back to strategise for their football game against the Fire Department this Saturday."

"You're joking."

"I really wish I was. I don't even know why they bother, they always end up passing the ball to Dad and then he runs it in."

"Every time?"

"No they change it up, sometimes they pretend to run another play and _then_ he runs it in." She says it so perfectly seriously, eyes wide, polite smile that he can't help laugh albeit a tiny little snort of laughter.

"That is hilarious." He shakes his head. "Getting a head start on that stand up comedian thing."

Even a she says it he cringes on the inside, she hadn't said it to him and even if she had it was such a long time ago. She was bound to think he was a stalker now, he thought, only she was grinning in delight.

"You remembered!"

"Congratulations, you're memorable." He drawls out sarcastically and she preens.

"Thank you, I intend to be."

"Hi," Victoria appears out of nowhere, quite an achievement considering the heavy bag she's holding, startling the two. "Sorry for the wait, here's your order."

And that's that. They're suddenly awkward, Cece hands over the money they wait for the change.

"Guess I'll see you in school then." Warren says.

"You mean when the holidays end?"

"Don't you have exams?"

"Hero Support 101 got done with the exams two days ago. But it's not like school's the only place we'll meet, you're going to be working here right?"

His hopes soar for a brief second before crashing to the ground. "I'm away all summer actually."

Part of the custody agreement his Dad worked out with Mom was that Warren would spend the summer with Dad's parents, his only set of living grandparents. He loved it really, his grandmother helped him with his powers and his grandfather had a huge archive of historical records on the appearance of the Super Gene but at that moment he wished he didn't have to go.

"Aww, that's too bad." She meant it, he could tell and it was a surprise.

Warren realised then that it _could_ be a date, could be the start of something. All he had to do was offer to walk her out, just say 'We should do this again sometime' and it would change things. They could exchange numbers, email addresses, _something._ And maybe they could talk, maybe they could be friends without needing school.

"See you in August." He says and mentally kicks himself as she smiles and leaves. There was a pause but he was pretty sure he imagined it really and Victoria sidles up next to him as he watches her leave.

"You're an idiot." She says and he can only agree.

He's an idiot.


End file.
